The World Health Organisation says antimicrobial resistance has been identified as a global threat, with the widespread use of antibiotics a key factor.
The resistance happens when exposure to antibiotics in inappropriate circumstances causes bugs to mutate and develop a resistance to treatment.
Australian National University microbiology professor Peter Collignon says the trend is deadly.
"The antimicrobial resistance causes people to die. If you don't have an effective antibiotic to treat somebody with a serious infection, you have two or three times the death rate than if you can have an antibiotic that works."
Federal health minister Sussan Ley has pledged $9.5 million from the health budget in the next year to combat the problem.
"This is a real threat. It's a close threat. We have multi-drug-resistant strains of both TB (tuberculosis) and malaria, effectively on our doorstep."
Recent research from Britain projects that, without swift intervention, the resistance could kill 10 million people a year until 2050 and cost $100 trillion in economic productivity.
The Australian Medical Association's Dr Tony Bartone says the main problem in Australia is doctors are overprescribing antibiotics.
"Use of antibiotics is on a high, is on an increase and is at a problematic level. We need to be very sure when we prescribe antibiotics that they are necessary."
Sussan Ley says the newly released government plan addresses multiple industries besides the health sector.
"So it's a One Health approach. That's vital, because, if you're a superbug, you may be in the food chain or you may be in a hospital."
The additional funding will go towards educating doctors and the public, creating the One Health website and further developing the government's review program.
Dr Bartone says it cannot come soon enough because bugs are becoming smarter as people repeatedly use medication such as antibiotics.
"Bacterial viruses are very, you know, clever organisms. They can retain a lot of information, and they can retain a memory of how to fight an antibiotic. So they can develop a resistance to that antibiotic."
